By EMMANUEL OLONIRUHA

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed allegations of irregularities in its online pre-registration data for the ongoing nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), stating there is nothing “extra-ordinary” about the figures.

The Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, made the clarification in a statement in Abuja.

This followed a statement from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) raising concerns over the numbers.

The ADC, through its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, described the figures from Osun as “suspicious” and a challenge to “historical patterns and demographic realities.”

Abdullahi claimed that the nearly 400,000 new registrations in just seven days for Osun exceeded the state’s total new voters from the last four years combined.

He also noted that the South West zone accounted for an “extraordinary 67 per cent” of all nationwide pre-registrations.

In his reaction, Oyekanmi said the claim was “further from the truth,” explaining that the pattern of high online registration numbers for Osun was not new.

He recalled that from the released data for the one week online pre- registrations, INEC recorded 1,379,342 registrants with Osun, leading with 393,269, followed by Lagos with 222,205, and then the Federal Capital Territory with 107,682.

Oyekanmi also provided historical data from the 2021 CVR exercise, showing that Osun consistently led in online pre-registrations.

He recalled that within the first 24 hours of launching the portal on June 28, 2021, a total of 59,331 accounts were created.

“By the second week on July 12, 2021, a total of 456,909 accounts were active. Interestingly, Osun led with 154,893 pre-registrations at the time. In the third week, 752,011 persons had pre-registered and Osun was at the front with 232,880.

“By the eighth week on Aug. 23, 2021, a total of 2,215,832 persons had pre-registered with Osun still leading with 365,412.

“In the 11th week of the exercise on Sept.13 2021, a total of 2,953,094 individuals had pre-registered, with Osun still in the lead with 402,619.

“By April 18, 2022, a total of 8,271,647 Nigerians had pre-registered, and Osun was ahead of all states with 708,782 registrations,” Oyekanmi recalled.

He said a simple search of past public records would have provided the political party with the facts.

Oyekanmi also highlighted the rigorous verification processes that follow online pre-registration.

He explained that all online applicants must visit a designated centre for in-person registration, where their biometrics are captured.

He also noted that INEC’s Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) is used to detect and isolate double registrants.

“After all the processes and due diligence, over 14 million Nigerians were added to the National Register of Voters for the 2019 General Election, pushing the figure from almost 70 million to 84,004,084 voters.

“In the same manner, after the 2021/2022 CVR, over 9.4 million new voters were added to the register, totalling 93,469,008 for the 2023 general election,” he said.

Oyekanmi stressed that INEC’s duty was to ensure that only real persons who met the criteria stipulated in the 1999 Constitution and Electoral Act 2022 were registered, regardless of which state they came from.

He urged citizens to be “circumspect in going public with information based on sheer conjecture, when they could rely on authentic and verifiable data available from INEC official repositories.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Abdullahi in his statement, had wondered how Osun alone recorded 393,269 pre-registrations in just one week, while it added only 275,815 new voters between 2019 and 2023.

He noted that even at its highest point of political mobilization in 2022, Osun has never produced more than 823,124 votes cast in the governorship election.

He also wondered that “across the six geopolitical zones, the South West alone accounted for 848,359 pre-registrations, an astonishing 67 per cent of the national total.

“By contrast, the entire South East recorded just 1,998 pre-registrations.

“To further illustrate, three states—Osun, Lagos, and Ogun—make up 54.2 per cent of all pre-registrations in Nigeria, while five states combined—Ebonyi, Imo, Enugu, Abia, and Adamawa—barely recorded 4,153, or 0.2 per cent, while the entire North East recorded just 6.1 per cent,” he said.

Abdullahi called on INEC to conduct a “full forensic audit” of the data, alleging the figures suggested a “technical ‘glitch’” or “deliberate manipulation of data.”

He further urged opposition parties and monitoring groups to jointly demand clarity and accountability from the commission. (NAN)